Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Environment Agency in preventing oil spills in the River Lea; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the replies previously given on 6 March 2018, PQs 129872, 129873, 129874 and 129875. Whilst it is not possible to prevent all oil spills into the river, in this incident, the Environment Agency have traced the waste oil to a potential polluter, details of which cannot currently be released due to the ongoing investigation. In previous incidents where oil pollution was not traced to a particular source, the Environment Agency carried out pollution prevention visits at industrial premises which drain to the Pymmes Brook.